Recent reports elicit warning
By: Lacey Korevec
Cranbury Police Chief Jay Hansen wants to warn residents to protect their identities.
The police have recently received a number of reports from residents saying they’ve received phone calls from callers who have asked for personal information including birthdays, Social Security numbers and drivers license numbers, information that can all be used for identity theft, Chief Hansen said.
"I just wanted to alert people that this is taking place," he said. "Don’t provide information to people over the phone. Whenever possible, call the firm that they say they’re representing to be sure these folks are legitimate."
He said callers often say they are from a bank or some other type of financial institution.
He said police are working to the degree that they can to catch fraudulent callers, but they are often hard to catch. Still, he said, residents can try dialing star-69 after receiving a suspicious call to locate the callers location.
"Occasionally they might be able to get the phone number by doing a star-69, but in frequent instances the calls originate from outside of the county and there is no way of determining the exact location," Chief Hansen said. "So, it’s a case of people being alert to the fact that there are people attempting to gain more information than necessary and, by all means, don’t help them."
Chief Hansen said residents who receive suspicious calls should feel free to contact the Cranbury Police Department at (609) 395-0031.